Butterfly
by Elleannor
Summary: Why is Juvia calling him "Gajeel-kun"? Why did she list him in her interview and where did she get that butterfly she wears on her hat? Gajeel x Juvia, Friendship/Love
1. A Rainy Day

A Rainy Day

The Phantom Lord quild was all but destroyed. The place was shattered, the members scattered all over the land. The only two that remained in the city were the „runners". Mages that ran to another quild right after their home was destroyed. The new members of Fairy Tail, the traitors. But noone would dare to say this to their faces. It would cost them their lifes if they would.

The tall black-haired male was sitting at the bar in the guilds house. He was chewing on an iron plate, silently staring at the wall in front of him. He has not fund a decent quest in a while. His panther-cat was sitting next to him, siping from a glass of beer.  
The mage was stripped of his S-class title when his former quild fell and now was no job a real challenge for him. Yeah, he always got the diamond for the job. It was quick and easy, but taht was exactly what bothered him. Only Salamander and his noisy friends got the cool jobs. That pissed him of.  
He growled and spit a screw from the iron plate on the floor. It was not fair and he already had enough. This quild brought him nothing but trouble, he should have never gotten involved into any business concerning them.  
„Stop it!" he shouted at the cat next to him.  
Pantherlily put the glass on the bar and looked puzzeled at his human companion. He knew Gajeel was in a bad mood and he certainly didn´t want to prowoke him, but he was like this for the past three weeks and it was affecting their jobs more than ever.  
„You could ask to go on a quest with them, you know." He said calmly after a while of silence.  
The raction was as expected. The Iron dragon bashed the iron plate into the bar, destroying the upper panel and releasing splinters in the air.  
He stood up, not giving his cat friend a single look, and rushed to the exit. Pantherlily, and even everyone present in the quild at that time, knew better than to stop him. They´ve seen enough of his destructive power when he was their enemy.

Gajeel left that fucking place. He wasn´t a real member anyway. That little dwarf Makarov only wanted him as a test subject anyway. He walked fast through the city streets, meaning to get into his apartment near the train station. It was a cheap place, little old, but it was still standing and there were no neightbours because of the sound of passing trains.  
But he didn´t mind the sound of iron wheels on the tracks. And an ironmongery was near too. Although he didn´t like the owner much. He was always making a fuss about selling his products as food. He should not care as long as Gajeel payed for the stuff.  
„If he doesn´t shut up soon I´ll stop paying him."  
said the mage to himself while walking towards his chosen destination. They might even send someone after him then. That would be fun. He grinned.  
However, his joy didn´t last long as he was thrown back into depression by the sudden change of weather. The clouds turned dark and cowered the sun in just a few minutes, as if the weather decided to mock him as well.  
He walked faster. Why would an iron dragon want to get wet and rust? But why would he even fear getting wet? He slowed down again. He would not fear anything, not even this hellish watery weather, that was about to begin.  
„Nothing can hurt ME." He thought and looked straight into the dark clouds. He would accept any challenge, he was Gajeel, the Iron dragon slayer, the best iron mage ever. Bad weather could not hurt him. He stopped to glare angrily into the sky while little drops of water started to fall down on the whole city.

The young woman just arrived back from a little journey. She had comleted two quests and earned quite a lot of diamonds. Her original plan was to head right back to her apartment in the Fairy Hills, but the weather was quite nice so she decided to go right to the quild and report back.  
Well, the weather wasn´t really so perfect, it was raining heavily and fog has fallen on the low places, but it was a nice weather for her.  
She walked the empty streets lined with streams of rainy water. The sound of drops shattering on the surface of her umbrella made her somehow happy. It was not because she simply liked rain, but bacause this was the first time it was not her who brought the rain here, but simply the nature itself. And that was why she could enjoy it so much.  
She stopped. Something interrupted the rhythm of the raindrops. She looked around but there was noone. Who would want to be outside in this rainy moment, right?  
But she heard it again.  
A little quiet squaky sound. The source could not be that far away and so the blue-haired girl decided to find out what actually caused it. She turned left right behind the corner and slowly entered a dark narrow back alley. The sound became more intense.  
It wasn´t only the annoying squaking , but also a sound of something heavy dragging along the roadstones. She started going faster, thinking it could be thief, utilizing this moment when noone is outside, to steal something. She turned right again and found herself in a little open space between three building. There were two paths that went here. The one she got here through and another little dark sidewalk.  
But how big was her surprise, when on the ground in this little place, she found the source of the strange sounds and even when she realized, that the source was actually familiar to her.

Gajeel woke up. The last thing he could remember were dark clouds. His whole body ached and he was lying on something uncomfortable. The first thing to do would be to sit, but as he tried to proceed with the act himself, he found his own body too hard to move. Did someone attack him? He felt like if his body were one big wound. But even that could not stop him from doing something, he could not just lie here. Even though he didn´t even know where he was.  
He finally got his right arm to move, put it under him and pushed his upper body up, finally sitting up. He sat on the floor of a room…a girl´s room as far as he could tell.  
The floor was violet, the ceiling wooden, there was a bookshelf, a table, a blue bed with some pretty stuff on it, as far as he knew that stuff was supposed to put on windows.  
But more improtantly…How the hell did he get in here?  
What did he do with some girl to end up on the floor of her room? „Hey, ain´t somebody here?"  
he shouted, deciding he would not stay silent till someone told him what was going on.  
The answer to his shout came with the opening of doors. As far as he could tell, that door led to a bathroom, as there were blue tiles visible behind the one who stood in them. And that person was far more familiar to him than he would have ever anticipated.  
„Rain woman?!"  
He shouted in surprise, as how could he get in HER room?  
„Oh, Juvia sees Redfox is finally awake."  
the girl replied, closing the door behind her and slowly comig forward to the mage on her floor with a glass of water in her hand.  
„Why the fuck am I here?" came another question.  
„Juvia found her quildmate outside in the rain and as he looked nearly dead, she tried to save him."  
she said calmly, not hasitating to axplain how he would end up in a place like this, probably to clear any possible misunderstandings as fast as possible.  
„I wasn´t nearlydead!"  
protested Gajeel madly. „Doesn´t matter to Juvia." She replied and put the glass next to him on the floor. „Juvia wanted to go to the guild and see other guilmembers…but she just met you."  
Yeah, right. He knw who this water woman wanted to see. Her interrest for that stripping idiot wan undeniable.  
„But Juvia doesn´t think that is someones concern. You should better look at yourself…"  
she said before the iron mage could ask any more questions.  
He would not normally take such order or suggestion, but it sounded as he would find something if he did so.  
And yeah he did.  
„The Fuck?!" he shouted, looking at his hard body being out of clour. He did, in fact, rust in that damned rain. How the hell could taht have happened. He was nearly at home, wasn´t he? This moth couldn´t just be any worse!  
If Salamander hears about this…"Was…was tehre someone else you met aside of me…" he muttered with anger. „Juvia already said she met just you."  
Good. At least there was noone else to tell.  
He looked out of the window. It stopped raining, but there were still heavy dark clouds in the sky. He wanted to get from that cursed room…and that cursed woman that has embarrassed him.  
He tried to pull himself up.  
His joints creaked by the attempt and he felt like he would be breaking his own bones by doing so, but after a moment of cursing, he was finally on his feet, ready to get finally home and recover from this hellish state.  
„You should relax a ittle bit, or Juvia will find you in a puddle again." The girl said, sitting now on her absurdly decorated bed.  
„ Keep those damned hints to yourself"  
he moved slowly towards the door taht seemingly led outside.  
„Have a drink…and by the way, Juvia doesn´t thik you would like other girls to see you."  
She remarked coldly. Was she really mocking him?  
That fucking rain woman, she surely did that on purpose, so she could laugh her ass of as he would rust there in the rain.  
„Shut up, ya rainy thing." He groweled and turned, knocking over the glass with water.  
„Why would I drink that poisonous thing, don´t ya think it has done enough to me?"  
he shouted, slowly loosing his nerves with this annoying girl.  
He started to move towards the window instead. He could jump out and not risk being seen by others. There would be that redhead. Oh yeah, Salamander´s frind, S-class off course, he was sure they would all laugh if they saw him in this state.

The sun was getting down and it was raining again. The Fairy Hills´s windows glowed into the coming darkness, shadow created creatures on the curtains. And in one specific window, one could see a shadow of a man…  
„The fuck am I still doing here!" muttered the mage in anger as he was still trying to reach that window so far away. He WAS moving, but his rusted body was so slow, that he had barely moved a meter in all those hours. And that rain woman was still sitting on that distasteful bed of her´s and watching him, which was driving him crazy.  
He heard her saying some absurd thing like „If Greay-sama comes to visit me(Juvia), what´ll he think?" and „When will I(Juvia) be able to go to sleep?"  
He would shut her up if he could. But yeah, she was kinda theclosest person in that damned quild to him. And that was just because they came from that dark quild together.  
„Hey, rain woman!" he shouted and waited for an answer from thatblue-haired girl. But as none came, he continued his lines.  
„You got any Iron?"  
It was request. He knew it, but he was too angry to let her watch him for even a minute longer.  
There came no answer but he heard the sound of her boots getting away from that bed. At least she did not protest to his orders. Yeah, that was no request, but an order.  
He heard the claping again and then she stood infront of him. She was slightly smaller than him and looked a bit sick in his opinion. That pale skin and thin body…a good mage should have muscles. „That´s all Juvia has" she said wth the same expression she had for hours now and from her arms fell a few things on the ground. She turned and went away, propably to sit on her bed again.  
Gajeel looked down on the things that woman had brought him and there really wasn´t much. A door handle, somescrews, some wires…where did she get those from?  
But he, doesn´t matter, if her things fuck up cause she pulled out something, her fault.  
He began to slowly bow for those little metal things that would give him at least a bit of juice, regretting letting that great iron plate at the guild. His knees let out a horrible sound, he felt like he would crumbel under the weight of his own body. What was wrong with him? Could this really be just from that little bit of water?  
Finally he found himself in a position where he could grab all those iron accessories and eat them. He couldn´t even describe how good it felt to bite into that scrap metal. He felt it´s power pour through him. That was him, a was machine. Indestructable. He stood straight up, feeling the comfortable heaviness his body always had. He could even feel his skin getting a better coulour again. He grinned over his newfound power.  
the distance between him and that cursed window was overcome in a second, even though he still felt the rust in his joints and his back was sore, he was again that old Gajeel, the devilishely powerful beast. He was right at it to jump out of that damned room, when he suddenly stopped and looked back at that blue-dressed woman.  
She watched him with a cold expression, reminding him of the times of Phantom Lord. But now she beared the Fairy Tail emblem on her tight. And he had it on his shoulder…  
„Juvia did not cause the rain today" she said, still looking at him from her bed „and Juvia thinks she spend her afternoon and evening on the trevels…"  
„Whatever."  
replied the Iron dragon, jumping out of her window into the dark night.


	2. A Sunny Morning

A sunny morning

Gajeel woke up with a train leaving the station. He heard it´s wheels on the tracks and saw a dark smoke through the window abowe his bed. He got up of his messy bed, leaving the sheets fallen of on the ground. He never cleaned up, well, unless there were pieces of iron somewhere.  
And there were actually lots. When he moved in, all the kitchen has been of metal, but in time, only the wooden furniture would survive with the dragon slayer around.  
In all, the place was a mess. Some people who have visited him even wondered, where he would get those new clothes from time to time. But he alone didn´t care about such details, he would wear an outfit, till it got completely teared up in a fight and then buy a new one. Piece of cake.  
He took some of the iron he had from yeasterday morning and began to munch it at the kitchen table. The whole room was actually quite little, and it was not really divided into any more room than the living one and the bath. But Gajeel still refered to the part of his living room as kitchen, bedroom and a living room, making people that have never seen his apartment think he owned quite a big place.  
Once he was done with the breakfast he decided to go back to the quild and look for some jobs. He did not want to stay in the city, with patherlily always watching, though he knew he was a friend of his, and knowing Salamander was somewhere working up his damned class. He should do that too. Get a hard job a work it up a bit.

He arrived to the building of Fairy Tail early in the morning. The sun was shining and there was no cloud anywhere in the sky. Like if there was no rain yeasterday. But he did not want to think about that. That was why was there so early too, he didn´t want to meet anyone. And so he ignored some of the other members, taht were probably drinking last night and passed out right in the hall, and went direct to the board with job offers.  
He was looking for one that would take the longest. He had enough of this whole place, of all these mages even. But maybe he would ask pantherlily to come along, for all the other dragon slayers took their cats everywhere and as he finally had one too, he wanted to be no different.  
It was in the middle of thinking when he realized he did not stand alone before the board, but that there was a little man standing next to him, interestingly going through the job offers as he has up until now. It was the midget sized master of Fairy Tail, Makarov, that has now turned to the black-haired mage with a smile on his face. Gajeel frowned, not wanting to talk to anyone, but he knew there would be no way to dodge the conversation now.  
It was this master after all, who came to him in the wreckage and invited him into Faity Tail, telling him about the „guiding light". Maybe he had saved him from the loneliness of that place, but with this new quild, there came much more new problems, most of them caused by it´s members.  
„I see that you are lonely yet again."  
The little man remarked, still looking at the board.  
„…just alone." The mage replied in a tone that hinted it was his own decision not to be with anyone.  
„I see" remarked Makarov, finally turning his head to the iron mage.  
„I might have a request…a job offer, if you will."  
he smirked in the same way Gajeel has seen many times before.  
„Any job is ok" he replied, being aware that he could not refuse Makarov´s request and that it finally might be a challanging job after all.  
„That´s good then" the master smiled and handed him a sheet of old paper, probably with a description with the requested job.  
„You should not go alone however…" the master turned around and went to the front dook of Fairy Tail. Well, the mage wanted to také his cat alone anyway, so it was not such a bad suggestion as he would expect it to be, and so he followed the master silently to the exit .  
He probably wanted to tell him something about the mission out of the reach of other´s ears. Well, if it was a personal request, he had no problem with keeping it a secret. They both left the building with it´s still sleeping members and stopped in the empty street in front of it. The sun was shining and it was hot outside. Gajeel knw it would get ven hotter in the course of the day, but he smelled rain. He smelled the thick air that comes after it and he smelled wet grass. Was it just imagination, or a memory of yesterday´s afternoon?  
And there she stood. The answer t his question and the source of the heavy smell. The rain woman dressed in a warm blue dress with a parasol above her head.  
„I suppose you would not mind pairing up with your former quildmate for this one quest." Makarov smiled, placing himself next to the rain woman with a smirk on his face. That was what he ment with „not go alone". „The job might keep you entertained for some time, as I can see some mages here are not entirely satisfied with the difficulty of the missions they get, but one can not také the S-class exam before being a member of Fairy Tail for at least a year." He continued his little speach, looking direct at Gajeel. „And there would be good payment as well, as I have heard someone owned a lot of diamonds to Fairy Hills for taking apart the heating system in her apartment…" now he looked at the rain woman. „Juvia doesn´t need a heating system…" she replied, but did not refure the job either.  
„ I think you´ll have a lot of fun" the master smirked again, turning back for the Fairy Tail building and leaving the duo standing in the street.  
Gajeel finally got a momentto look at that old piece of paper Makarov gave him, hoping there would be more about the job, than what the master had said, but all he found was a map of the land, with a big red „X" scrabbeled over the area of north in a place where two big mountain were drawn.  
„The twins" remarked the rain woman, looking at the map from the side.  
He saw those two mountains before. They were a dark place, gloomingly rearing over the other mountains in the north, he could remember seeing them from afar while going to other missions, but what would Makarov want from such a place?  
He turned the paper, hoping again for more information, but all he got were some pieces of sentences scrabbeled all over the sheet.  
„Only a quardian in the night" „Eternal life" „In the peaks" „No man" „The golden treasure"  
Did the old man want to live forever or what? What were they even supposed to bring back, the gold or what?  
He put the paper in his pocket and went back to his house. He did not care what exactly that man wanted him to do in those mountains, but he would probably figure it out once he got to that damned place. But first he needed to pack something. At least a few iron plates would be good, so he would have something to eat on this strange journey. And maybe a raincoat would be a good idea…  
But what was more important, that rain woman started to go with him.  
„Why ain´t ya going to your fancy home?"  
he remarked, finding her presence highly annoying right now.  
„ Juvia has her things packed,it is inside Juvia´s body."  
Yeah, right, he forgot that woman was all water. „Go somewhere else then, ya shouldn´t follow me…" he said, hoping she would dissapear.  
„Juvia will not cause trouble Redfox, it´s just that for Juvia th job has already began."  
„Right…" he groweled then.  
„Do what ya want then, damn it!" he could couldn´t care less anyway. Finally he got a worthy job to do and if the price is to let some kinda of a rainy cloud float after him, then fine. Hopefully she can keep up with him in a fight, he is certainly not going to be responsible for her, she has to look after her own…

It was around midday, that the two mages finally stopped to have a lunch on their way to the twins. The sunny weather prevailed and though they could not see the mountain itself, they knew they were getting closer quite fast. But for now they rested on a rock next to a small scossing in the middle of some corn fields. „Ya didn´t really have to frag along, just run to that stripping idiot if ya want.." were the first words the Iron mage has spoken since they departed from the city.  
„Gray-sama has his own quests,and Juvia doesn´t dislike Redfox, they were guild members once if someone still remembers."  
„Well I don´t care, do what ya want" sounded theanswer.  
„You could have gone with Levy…" came at once the strange suggestion from the rain woman, that made Gajeel choke on the piece of metal in his mouth.  
He looked at her, shocked as how she would come to such conclusion and wondered how he would live through this whole fucking mission with her.  
„Stop asking unnecessary questions, none of your business anyway." He bit of a piece of the metal again and turned to the corn field rather than looking at that woman. She was mocking him, that was all. And when she spoke, ahe wanted to talk about only the most annoying themes, no wonder that ice guy didn´t want to date her, ahe was really annoying as hell.  
He swallowed the rest of what he had in his hands and got up to continue their travels. Why did she even ever care about him? He remembered her talking about him being lonely and yesterday she kind of helped him, but why the hell did she annoy him so?  
He turned around to see her walking behind him with that strange look on her face. She should play poker sometime he tought and turned back forward, knowing they had a long way in front of them.

The time was passing as the mage duo was getting forward for days. The landscape presented them with many fields and just a lightly hilled terrain, but they could finally see the nothern mountains too. The first moment for them to see those rocky giants was while entering a little abandoned village. The houses were burned, as were the fields around that little town, seeming it might have been attacked by something. And as they neared the mountains, they came across two more villages in the same shape, until they reached a slow caravane of settlers.  
They did not seem like villagers from the destroyed places they´ve visited efore, but Theky might have had a similar experience, as They did not have too many things on their carriages.  
Gajeel stopped many meters from them, seeing as how Theky looked at him and not wanting any trouble. But the rain woman continued to approach them, probably wanting to ask about chat has driven them from thein homes. But the iron mage couldn´t care less. All that wasn´t connected with the actuall quest and he surely did not want to make it také any more time then that. But that rain woman was already there…  
„Juvia would like to know if your village got burned as well…"  
he heard her say in that strange third person way. The villager muttered something and pointed his hand noth to the twins. Well, maybe it was connected to thein mission after all.  
That woman střed at the man´s side for a few more minutes, asking some questions and then she returned back to Gajeel, as the caravan slowly passed them by.  
„The village began to burn in the middle of the day…no source was found and there was no warning too. The man said that it has happened to all the villages arend here and those who střed unharmed seem to be expecting it too." she turned towards the karavan, looking a bit sad while watching the people getting further and further away from the place They once lived in.  
„The man also mentioned the mountain storms. They are not supposed to happen in this time of the year, yet one night a few weeks ago, the storm began and it hasn´t ended since."  
„Magic"  
sounded the short suggestion from the iron dragon, and it sounded about right. Is this why Makarov send them here now? Has some dark guild made that place to their new home, or has something awakened in those mountains, that needs to be eliminated?  
Both mages looked north to the dark mountains.  
"Juvia also got the location of the nearest village that did not get burned yet…we could rest there."  
"…and investigate." sounded in Gajeels head as the water woman moved forward in nearly the same direction as the caravan came from.

It was near nightfall when the duo reached the building of the described village. They wanted to find shelter first and replenish their supplies, before starting to question everyone in this forgotten place. It wasn´t even really a whole village. It was just a part of the road flanked with a hostel, a shop and some houses.  
It seemed they weren´t used to travelers as well, noticing how people looked at the two mages that came to this lonely place. Their first sop was supposed to be some bar, but as the place did not seem to have one, they decided to start with the hostel instead.  
It was an old and little place, having just a little hall with an old reception in the ground floor, and old wooden stairs that led to a half-opened corridor with rooms.  
The only two people in this place were an old man sitting behind the reception desk and drinking, and a young boy, sitting by the stair and obviously staring at the new quests.  
"Oh my, was a long time since someone passed here…what would it be, a room for the night for the cute couple?" started the old man getting into the business right away.  
"No, no, Juvia could not…"  
"Two rooms" cut the iron mage the chatter before it has even began and put the payment right in front the old guy.  
"Yes, yes, two rooms, right away…Honzo, go and prepare the rooms for our quests"  
answered the man Gajeel´s request and started to collect his fee from the desk.  
"Is this place safe?"  
asked the black-haired mage, while the young boy ran up the stairs to asumingly clean the messy rooms for them.  
"Right, right, our place is the safest in the whole land, no burglars, no bandits, everything is safe around here…"  
"What about fires…" continued the mage his questioning and it seemed he hit some kind of a spot in the old man´s soul, or head, as there came a while of complete silence.  
"There was no fire here for ager, sir, I can assure you, this village is the safest place around here…"  
if the hostel owner ever thought they were normal travelers, he forgot it now for sure, as the iron mage held everyone suspicious and would not end the hearing till he was completely finished.  
"I´ve heard there were many fires around here lately, maybe the lightening up in the mountains caused it, right?"  
"I am telling you sir, this is a safe place, there are no storms of fires here!"  
rehearsed the old man his answer again.  
"Juvia thinks this is a safe place too…" interrupted the rain woman the questioning, giving her companion a cold look. he assumed she did not share his suspicion of this place. Well, not his problem anyway, she began with the questioning as they passed that man with that carriage.  
"They´re ready!" screamed the young boy from the top of the stairs.  
"The rooms are ready!" he repeated his line and looked down upon the couple downstairs.  
"Your rooms…" pointed the old man his hand upstairs with his happy business smile again and there was nothing more left than to proceed to the recently cleaned rooms for the night.

It was in the middle of the night when Gajeel woke up. He heard some soft sounds from downstair, but it was the strange smell, that his nose caught, that got him up from the uncomfortable bed in the hostel room. He smelled smoke and fire.  
The mage grabbed his things, as he didn ´t even unpack them before going to sleep and rushed to his room´s door, opening them with one single move, shattering the locked lock and ripping out the door handle at once.  
The hostel´s front door was shattered, half of the front wall was in ruins. It looked as if an explosion shattered the whole place, but there was no such sound, the mage would have noticed it even in his deepest sleep. The owner kneeled in the middle of the building´s hall, looking right into the main road connecting all building of this village. It was in flames. The fire danced on the building in his red, orange and yellow colours and slowly consumed one building after another, reaching out to the hostel itself, ready to consume it in whole, as the place was fully build of wood.  
"Safest place my ass!"  
Screamed the iron dragon, taking a quick step to the side, to reach the door of his fellow mage.


	3. A Fiery Night

A Fiery Night

The houses along the main road were shattered and there were fires breaking out in the whole village. The settlers ran around in chaos, the bravest ones tried to turn over the tanks with rain water on the roofs, but many did not suceed because of the fire barriers that fastly consumed all the wooden buildings.  
In the middle of all this, two mage, that came to the lonely village the evening before, ran out of the hostel to vitness the horrors of the fire.  
„Iron Dragon´s ROAR!"  
sounded as a thunder through the night´s darkness Gajeels voice, as the dragon slayer unleashed a powerful tornado into the air, to sweet the fires away.  
But as an attack, that is originally made to shatter the oponent, the tornado had not enough power to blow all the fires out, though it helped a bit in the fight against it.  
„Let Juvia handle it!"  
called out the rain to the iron mage, as he was getting ready to let out another roar out of his mouth. And so the male mage turned over, to finally vitness the powers of a water mage.  
The pale, skinny body of the girl that stood beside him broke down in a strong water stream, that was shot out into the sky. The water creature overlooked the village and the flames that harrased it and as an angel from above the sky, the creature stretched out it´s hands and a heavy rain covered the area in a matter of seconds.  
Gajeel stepped under a little roof, to move out of the rains way and looked over the shattered place, as the villagers thanked got for sending them the rain in such an urging moment.  
The fire was put out in less than a minute, and the rain stopped with it.  
„It was no ordinary fire…"  
remarked the water creature, forming it´s body in front of the Iron mage after the threat was dealt with.  
„Figured as much." Came the quick answer from the iron mage, that was watching the rain woman assembeling her body. „These were no ordinary explosions as well…"  
he looked at the shattered, and halfly burned, front wall of the hostel they´ve been sleeping in. This was by mages. Now it truly seemed, that there has truly been formed a dark guild at the two peaks to the north. But none of the duo knew, why they would want to drive out the people of this maybe. Off course they could have been doing this for fun…but it just didn´t seem that way.

The sun was rising above the little hills and fnally showed the full destruction of the village. The rain, that has so miracolously appeared the last night, has saved many houses and even more lives, but it was still horrific how many places were destroyed.  
Many men decidec to abandon the place and had just began to pack their things, as the others came out of to see if the buildings they lived in could be repaired. And there were two more people, who were interrested to see the whole place at daylight, hoping to find something, they might have missed by their investigation right after the fire outbrake.  
Gajeelstood tall behind one of the houses and stared grim into a hole in the grassy land. The two mages have found this unusual crater in the night, but wanted to také a second look at it now, that they could see much better. The water woman was kneeling down in the hole and looking into the dark-brown soil.  
„Juvia can not find any clues here"  
she stated and began to clib her way back up. They suspected something, or someone, that has caused this whole mess, must have landed right here, making this hole and then proceeding to making the fire.  
„There ain´t nothing left here then, up to the twins."  
annouced the iron mage, not wanting to waste time on helping the villagers. The rain woman has saved them yesterday, but they have no idea and keep thanking a „god" or whatever. They should at least give her some money…that was Gajeel´s view anyway. But it seemed she had no problem with their ignorance.  
„Juvia thinks there might be some more things to investigate around here."  
„Ai n´t no good…the best thing is to get them face to face, not fuck around here."  
he looked up to the mountains  
„other places might get burned by them."  
The woman did not say anything, only a nod showed that she would follow the iron mage up if he decided to part immediately. After all, there was nothing to hold them in place anymore. They could not také the supplies of these people in need and too many investigations could cost them the element of suprise, as they planned to storm the twins and get whatever was hidden there. But they could get into imense trouble if they unintencionaly stormed a whole fully fledged guild up there. But off cource they had to get there first.  
And with all that in their heads, the mages left theburned village behind their backs.

It took the Fairy Tail members a few more days before they reached the first mountain border. It seemed the fire attacks did not end, as they have seen some burning lights on the horizon by their travels, but they were too far away and even the water mage could not summon rain to such a distant location. As for now, they did not see anything even if it was day. The storm that the locals spoke of has covered the lower part of the mountains into a mixture of foggy ocen with ocassional dust swirls. It would be enough to keep away the settlers, but it was not such a big obstacle for the two mages to overcome.  
As far as Gajeel was concerned, his iron skin had no problem with the sharp and hard particles that the wind threw in his way, but the fog made him feel uncomfortable, as his clothes were getting more and more moist. Juvia had nothing against the fog, being skilled with water in the amout of making it go away for a bit so they could look around, and the other things could not harm her in her water state at all.  
But even then it was not easy to find the way out of the neverending ocean. After a halfday of wasted time, they both agreed (Juvia suggesting and Gajeel frowning) that it would be best to settle in a cave slot.  
The Iron mage was angry, squeezing the water out of hair, he frowned and his anger filled the little dry place with a rather depressing atmosphere.  
Not only did the water in the air do him no good, but there, just a few meters from him, sat the water itself in a person and he had to drag it along. Fucking watery weather was making him crazy. Two things, two things he hated, lightnings and water, and Laxus was not around…  
„Can´t ya sweep it away?"  
the mage asked angrily, sitting finally down on the rocky floor.  
„Juvia could try it, and maybe the dragon´s roar could work as well, but Juvia did not want to cause a commotion." She explained, sounding a bit dissapointed, that she could not help her fellow guildmate.  
Now that she mentioned it, Gajeel had to agree that they should not use too powerful magic as that could either be heard or sensed by whoever has settled down up above them.  
The Iron dragon pulled once again the old paper out of his pocket and looked at it.  
„only a guardian in the night"  
was it supposed to mean they could enter the peeks only when it was night? Or was there someguardian that would sleep at night so they could not enter during the day? If there was such a creature, Gajeel would defeat it anyway.  
He shook his head. A single paper would not get them anywhere anyway. But the COULD really use his dragon roar to get of the foggy area down here. Maybe if they wouldn´t get out of here for one more day…he wanted to challenge these guyes anyway, so why not do it right away?  
But the water age would not like that, she insisted on a secret assault, not wanting to take too many risks.  
„We might not be able to get out of the fog anyway, ya know?"  
said the iron mage, hoping to defend his future loud attack at that damned watery substance in the air. „Juvia will do all she can for us to get out of here."  
the water woman jumped up, showing her fighting spirit.  
That was rght, she did become quite cheerful since they were in the Fairie´s guild, and it didn´t rain around her that much as in their phantom days.  
„Juvia will find a way out, Redfox, you stay where it´s dry"  
She walked over to the exit of the slot, changed into water again, and vanished in thin air. Gajeel could take it as mockery, that she left him there, but he grinned instead. That woman really had some fighting spirit. It was a pretty good change from her cold expession.  
And so he decided he would at least take a nap, as he was finally out of that fucking fog, and even finally alone after all that damned time.

It was already dark when the iron mage woke up. Luckily for him, his eyes could kepp up with any darkness, as long as it wasn ´t magic. But it was a thing thing that he smelled, that made him open his eyes. The smell of a rainy day…the rain woman was back.  
He shook his head and ruffeled his hair. The watery figure was entering the cave right when he sat back up.  
„Juvia has found a way." Came the report, but she didn´t sound like it was the only thing she found.  
„Juvia has found the night guardian as well." She remarked and Gajeel lifted his non-existing eyebrows.  
„And what does he guard?"  
„The entrance into the mountain it seems." Juvia looked at the iron mage. They both thought that there would be single little cave inside one of the twinse´s peaks, but if what Juvia was telling was the truth, then the whole mountain was a cave itself.  
„We gotta go then." Began the iron mage to get up.  
Now it made sense. Only the guardian could get them into the cave compley IN the mountain, that was what the map said.  
Good he had that rain woman with him, or he would have been climbing those damn twins for nothing.

They both got on their way into the fog again. Gajeel with his raincoat on, as he was tired of wiping the water of his iron skin everytime they stopped. The water eoman was on the first position this time, holding onto the side of the mountain while walking.  
„Juvia has seen the guardian from afar, but it truly seems as a creature f the night."  
she whispered, probably not really sure as how near they were to the guardian´s position after all these minutes of walking.  
The fog has cleared a bit and Gajeel could see that they are walking over a thin walkway, around 10cm wide, and that they are climbing up guite sharply.  
The question why has answered itself once the fog has cleared completely. Had they have been following the wider path down belov, they would walk rigt into the creature of the night.  
It was a rocky structure in the mountine´s wall, covered with some engravings, that truly did look like a door. In front of it stood a big, mechanic night bird. An owl. That explained the „in the night" part.  
The animal had a pair of red glowing exes and turned it´s hear right and left every few seconds.  
„Maybe it is only there to question Juvia and Redfox."  
the rain woman whispered while watching the mechanic animal turn it´s head.  
„It ain´t no animal…"  
Gajeel smelled it in the air. It was the scent of a human, and a sweaty one for that. Inside that mechanic construction was someone who operated it.  
Before the water mage could say anything, Gajeel jumped over the cliff right down into the niche with the mechanical guardian.  
Even if the thing was out of metal, it had no chance against the power of the iron mage´s body.  
As soon as the iron mage hit the ground, the mechanic owl turned around and one of it´s wings went in his way. But the mechanic animal wasn´t the only fast thing around. Gajeel jumped over it and got up tall in front of the 5 meter big guardian.  
„Knock knock…" grinned the mage at the bird, standing now right between him and the door. The owl´s exes burned. „Turn away villager."  
sounded a metal voice out of the insides of the structure. Now the iron mage was sure that there was a human inside.  
„Ain´t no villager, ya should open up that fucking door, ya know."  
grinned the mage with his hands crossed on his chest.  
And there came the second blow. Gajeel got down and dodged it. But the other wing came right behind it. He blocked it with the side of his hand, being happy for his iron skin under the raincoat, as the wing´s sides were as sharp as swords.  
„Iron dragon´s club"  
came Gajeel´s other hand forward, pushing the guardian away and knocking him over to the ground.  
„A mage…" came a quick realization out of the metalizet creature and it seemed the guardian was no longer interested in the fight, as he turned around to something on the wall.  
„The fight ain´t over…" laugh the iron mage, pursuing the owl as it was getting closer to the door.  
As the owl got closer, there came another mechanic thing out of the door, looking like a lock of some king. „Fuck he´s wanna get away…"  
Got the iron mage his seriousness back and got faster.  
„water lock!"  
came another voice into the fight between the two and before the animal could turn it´s head, it was all covered in water, soon swimming in a water prison made by Juvia.  
„Juvia didn´t want to interrupt, but Juvia saw he wanted to call for help…"  
came an apology for the interference from the rain woman, still standing above the place where Gajeel and the ball of water was.  
The iron mage did not say anything, rater than that, he continued to walk towards the mechanic lock, ignorig the gigantinc water lock, as that was now the rain woman´s business.  
Juvia jumped down, ending up next to the part of her water prison, where the owl´s head was.  
She moved her heand to the side and the enormous mechanic body began to fall apart inside the her both the Fairy Tail mages could see the actuall guardian.  
he was about the size of Makarov, tough twise as wide and with a red beard, struggeling to survive inside the watery ball.  
Gajeel looked at the actuall threat and decided it was a waste of time. Instead, he looked at the lock.  
„We gonna need a key for this." He commented it´s shape.  
Juvia looked at the lock and made another gesture in the air, that took apart even the last part of the mechanic owl, looking around her own prison to find it.  
„Juvia has it."  
she announced seconds later, throwing the key with the help of her water right into the iron mage´s hands. „Juvia desn´t think this one is a mage" she said, while Gajeel was intercepting the key itself.  
„Throw him down the mountain then…" came his comment, and the man in her water lock began to toss around.  
„oh, no, Juvia will just leave him drown…" stepped the rain woman forward to her guildmate, as he was right about to stivk the key into the lock.  
It fit in perfectly. His turning then began a slow movement of the whole door structure. Both mages watched the engravings as it opened.  
It looked like there truly was a giant owl guarding this place, and it allowed the sick to enter to be healed. But it did not look at all like the mechanic one.  
„Our friend here must have taken it´s place after it dissapeared…"  
Juvia wondered as the door opened and turnd back to her water creation, to see how her prisoner was slowly loosing consciousness.  
„or after they have killed them…" came another theory from the iron mage, as the water woman released the prison and all the mechanic parts fell to the ground, even the little man.  
And it was then that the two mages noticed the tatoo on the man´s forearm.  
„The man…it is a guild´s tatoo…"  
„Not right, that guy ain´t no mage…" sounded the iron dragon´s voice, but he saw it too, and it was more then clear. This comfirmed everything.  
There was really a new guild up here. But they have really never seen an ordinary human in one. And other questions rose with it.  
„Juvia sensed magic in the armour, but the man is no mage."  
They both looked puzzeled down on the man on the ground. Was this maybe a guild of mechanic creatures ruled by a single mage that designed and made them? Or was this just an exception? But why would he have a tatoo then?  
„Seems like it ain´t gonna be just easy…"  
grinned the iron mage finally. It was a mystery, a challenging mystery he has truly been waiting for.  
And as the door of the mountain stopped, fully opened and in the waiting for someone to pass through it, the two mages pulled out the key of the lock, so the bearded man would not comm after them when he woke up. And the engraved door began to close behind the two, as they went into the halls of the mountain and into an enemy guild´s territory at the same time.


	4. A Dark Tunnel

A dark tunnel

The mages entered the mountain tunnels hors ago, but they were still lost in the labyrithal complex of it. Gajeel, slightly angry as why he has to walk around in cycles, but having no problem with the darkness of the tunnels at all, as his crimson red yes shined into the tunnel´s darkness, and the water woman, silently following the iron dragon, as she would not see as much as he did, which was probably one of the problems why they were lost.  
„Let´s hope that owl guy at the ain´t gonna wake up." Muttered the annoyed iron dragon, as he was marching forward.  
„Juvia does not think he will wake up at all…" the water mage remarked  
„you…ki…"  
„No" came the answer before Gajeel could end his question. It was strange, in their Phantom Lord days, he would not care about her killing anyone, but now...not that she would not have the power, but he just could not see her doing it.  
„It seemed he passed out himself, as Juvia took apart the armour."  
She remarked to give her companion an explanation.  
„wicked" was all the iron mage had to say to that. That guy was more than strange, as well as this whole mountain and this quest, he would probably not be surprised if there wold be dwarves extracting gold. At least it would explain the treasure part from the map.

„can´t ya flow somewhere and find the way outa here?"  
came from the frustrated black haired mage after some more time that the duo spend exploring the dark tunnels.  
„Juvia could do that, but Juvia might not come back to Redfox then" came from the water woman.  
„well, fuck!"  
threw Gajeel his arms in anger. He then proceeded to lean to one of the rocky walls and let himself slowly slide to the ground.  
„Does the map provide any information about a maze inside the mountain?" asked the water mage, the squeeking of metal teeth came as an answer and she would not dare ask anything else for a while, just standing in one place and looking into the iron dragon´s shining eyes.  
„I had enough of this!"  
came an angry growl at once and Juvia saw a seal on Gajeel´s hand.  
He stood up for a punch and hit the wall of the tunnel just centimeters from where the water woman was standing.  
„I ain´t just gonna sit here, damn it!"  
she saw his hand burried into the wall and as she stepped back a few steps, the drill, that his arm has transformed into, began to bore a tunnel of itself.  
„Redfox, you don´t even know if that´s the right way!" the water mage screamed out of surprise. They could easily track their movement like that, making so much noise, and the whole tunnel could collapse.  
„Redfox!"  
„ya right…"  
the iron mage stoppeg after a few stepps and stepped back. The water woman looked relieved, but the feeling quickly faded away as she cought a glimps of Gajeel taking a deep breath.  
„Iron Dragon´s roar!"

The whole place crumbeled and there was rubble everywhere. It happened as the rain woman suspected, the tunnel didn´t hold the power of the roar, and he didn´t even use his whole power, Juvia knew as much.  
She opened her eyes and found herself lying in the debris. A normal human might have a few broken bones, but that was not her case, as she could easily change her form and make herself nearly unharmable.  
She stood up and looked around, searching for the red shining eyes of the hodheaded wizard. The place was really a mess, but she could swear there was much more light now, although she could not say where exactly it was coming from because of the rocky dust in the air.  
„Redfox."  
she let out a quite silent calling, not wanting to be noticed even more. But there came no answer.  
„Redfox?"  
she altered the volume of her calling. He would not be defeated by a simple earthquake, he was iron himself…right?  
„Gajeel!"  
„Ay!" came an annoyed sight out of a pile nearby. And a few seconds later, the iron mage got up from under the huge amount of rock he released on himself.  
„Ain´t no mountin gonna kill me" he grinned, obviously thrilled from this little thing he caused.  
„Ha, I got a bit of some light in here."  
he got even more excited as he looked around through all the mess he has caused.  
„If the guild did not know we were here, then now they know for sure…"  
came a cold remarking from the rain woman.  
„No shit, better go greet them propperly then?" the iron dragon´s grinn increased as he began to proceed through the tunnel he has created. At least this one was left standing. And it was also the source of all the light, meaning wherever was the labyrinth leading, that was it.  
Juvia followed the iron mage without a word.

The darkness of the room was broke only by the light of a lightening. The throne in the middle of this place, the twin´s observation tower, was occupied by a dark entity and only it´s sharp teeth would shine through the night.  
„Master…"  
there came an iron structured wolf into the room.  
„…intruders have been sighted, as you have forseen."  
the teeth showed a pleasured grinn.  
„Prepare the ceremony."  
„What about the intruders?"  
„lead the one into the center of the mountain, kill the other."  
came the orders and the wolf nodded and left his master´s chambers.  
„Oh, how bright is today´s night, and you my jewel , will soon shine too."  
and a sharp laughter cut the thunders in the tower and filled the room with shvering atmosphere.

„Ain´t got anything better?"  
shouted the iron mage in his battle enhusiasm.  
The guardians of this place have, in fact, noticed how they have made their own way into their barracks. As it seemed they all had the same armour as the one at the mountain entry. And all the same loocks, representing owl, luckily they did not shere simply only the designe, but also the level of power, which was quite convenient for the duo, as they would have no problem defeating them.  
Well, Gajeel DID do the most of the job, as he was absolutely happy about getting into a fight again. The rain woman did just stand a few steps away from him and was taking care of any owl, that would decide to abandon the fight and fly, or run away.  
The fact that the machines could get into the air was quite interesting, but it seemed as they were in fact, made with magic, so it could explain even this.  
But now her attention was tuned towards the escaping owls. And while she was taking care of one with her water lock, she noticed another entity entering the room.  
„A spider…"  
she remrked upon looking over the structure.  
Redfox turned his head, just as he had blown the last of the owls to hell. „A new enemy"  
his enthusiastic response was and the water mage was truly surprised as how much pleasure this brought him. He must have been aching for a fight in ages, tough she knew he actually wanted a challenge, as he once mentioned it on their way here, but it seemed he didn´t mind taking care of the little fish now.  
But, the spider dissapeared as fast as it got to the place and the iron mage began to follow before Juvia could say any warning at all.  
This could be a trat, it could be anything…  
„Gajeel!" she shouted again and ran quickly after him and the mechanic creature.

Now it was absolute. Juvia was lost. As the hot headed iron dragon ran away to follow the spider, he went directly into another labirinth of tunnels.  
These were not as rocky however and there were light, implying she was in an area that was actually used by the mechanic members of this guild.  
And off course, she had the bad feeling that whatever trap that mechanic thing was preparing for Gajeel, he would run right into it.  
But at least, the things her did not yet know what he was, which still gave them quite an advantage. But first things first…and now, the objective was to get out of this tunnel mace.

„So ya ain´t all just owly crumbs, he!"  
has the iron mae been bragging with enthusiasm as he faced the spider in another of the barrack´s halls. As for what good it did him, this one was empty, well, aside of the mechanic spider thing anyway.  
It seemed this thing was on a little higher level then the owls, still, he was no match for Gajeel, but as he was now not being watched by the rain woman, he could play a little before crushing the creature´s neck.  
As for the water woman itself, he did not have any doubts that she would find him eventually.


	5. A New Enemy

A new Enemy  
-and a new friend

Gajeel has been going after the wolf in anticipation of new battle, but it was not a single opponent he found. In the magnificent room he got to throught all the tunnels have waited many more mechanic creatures of the same kind, and class, ready to battle the Iron dragon, who only grinned at the new challenge.

Meanwhile, Juvia is busy not only with finding her missing companion but also to find out why all their enemies wear the strange mechanical armour. She is caught up in a fight with more spiders and gets the chance to interrogate one of them, finding out that they are the surviving members of the destroyed villages, bound to the machine armours by the master of the Twins. When asked further, he reveals, though unvillingly, that the men were not all he brought fro mthe villages, as there was also some kind of metal they were ordered to gather.  
With the spiders defeated and the new information, Juvia heads off to find and warn her fellow quild member.

Gajeel is seen again, standing beat u, but victorious above a pile of mechanics parts of his defeated opponents, though it seems many more await in the great hall to fight him. It is at that moment, that the Master of the Twins decides to finally show himself.  
Gajeel recognizes his aura as the one of an evil spirit. He reveals his plans of abtaining a powerfull body that was sealed in this peak tample ages ago. He was burning down near villages to get enough gold to lead his lightning magic, and the souls he obtained from binding the men to his machines, into the sacred barrier in the great hall, shattering it and posessing the giant body.  
He welcomes the Iron mage in his hall and challenges him to a fight, wanting to use him as a final part of his lightning rod.

Gajeel accepts the challenge, but finds out he can not hurt the spirit so easily as it does not have an actuall physical form, and that he can hurt him quite easily, using his supperior energy attacks that he is weak against, yet he does not give up and tries to use the surrounding soldier around him as cover while thinking of a strategy.  
This does not last long however, as the final strong storm the spirit was awaiting starts, and he finishes the duel with a powerfulllast blow, striking the Iron dragon unconcious.

It is at the beginning of the ritual that Juvia finally finds the great hall and while witnessing the spirit using natural lightning to get the final power and Gajeel as a rod to open the door, she pts it all together and in a final desperate try to stop him from breaking the barrier, uses her water to transfer all that power from it into her and the surrounding soldiers.

This gives Gajeel the opportunity to get free and finally strike the spirit, who has gained a partly physical appearence, with his Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron Sword, with which he also destroyes the great hall and burries the barrier beneath the peak of one of the Twins.

With the death of the spirit, the storm above the peaks ends and the villagers wake from their curse. The Iron dragon finds wounded Juvia and thanks her for the rescue, as he alone would have surely died under the final blow and they both proceed into the temple in the second peak, where they finally find the promised golden treasure, that the spirit was using.  
They také some time to recover and head back with quite a load of valuables, leaving the rest for the villagers to rebuild their homes.

Finally at the quild, Makarov complains about the lenght of the quest and is surprised as the mage duo reveals the existence of the dark spirit and the ancient barrier, as he has only send them there to get enough gold to repay the town superiors for all the trouble Fairy Tail has caused over the years, and also for the fees connected to the rebuilding of the quilds headquarters as well, which was the real reason Gajeel was send, as he has destroyed the old one.  
Juvia is given a single golden chalice to repay her debt at Fairy Hills and Makarov seizes everything else, leaving the mage duo standing in front of the FT building.  
At that moment Gajeel turnes to Juvia to thank her one more time, that she accompanied him on the long journey and also that she had asked him to the quild.  
When she remarkes it was Makarov and not her who has asked Gajeel-kun to join, he responses that Makarov was the one who came to him but were her words that made him do it.  
At that moment he also gives her a butterfly ornament covered in gems and they both enter the main Fairy Tail hall together, with Juvia stating :

„…This quild is a lot of fun, isn´t it?"  
„They´re all fucking crazy…" Gajeel grins.  
And proceeds to invite her for a bear as she pins the butterfly in her blue hair.

XXX

This chaper came in a bit of a quicker way, more as a synopsis, as I do not have time to finish this the normal way, yet I do not want to simply cut this in the middle of the story. I will be continuing with my other stories, yet this one is very time consuming and that is why I decided to end it like this, please understand and feel free to expand any part of it you like in your own fanfics.


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